Fake beard robber hits York store again

November 27, 2012|By Amanda Kerr, akerr@dailypress.com | 757-247-4733

YORK — York-Poquoson investigators think a recent robbery at an AutoZone store on Hampton Highway may be the work of the fake beard robber who is suspected of more than 30 robberies on the Peninsula in the last year.

The robbery took place at the AutoZone store in the 2800 block of Hampton Highway at around 8:45 p.m. on Nov. 16.

York-Poquoson Sheriff's Lt. Dennis Ivey Jr. said the suspect entered the store armed with a gun and demanded money. Ivey said while the suspect was holding up a clerk at the front of the store, another employee ran out the back of the store to get a gun from his car.

The employee, armed with the gun, came back in the store and confronted the suspect, who dropped a money bag the clerk had just given him and fled the store, Ivey said.

The suspect was wearing a fake black beard, a purple jacket and black sweat pants.

Ivey said investigators believe the robbery is related to other robberies committed by the fake beard suspect. A suspect wearing a fake beard robbed the same AutoZone store in September.

The same suspect is believed to be involved with 19 robberies in Hampton and 13 robberies in Newport News.